Clemson does a good job with recruiting - a lot of kids want to wear that Tiger Paw on their helmet. But South Carolina's resurgence in recent years has made it tougher on Clemson to get some of the local talent, and the University of Georgia is located only about an hour from Clemson. When you have three perenially top 25 teams located that close to one another, local recruits have options to go to a competitive school and still stay fairly close to home.

South Carolnia seem to be the main problem Jadeveon Clowney, Stephon Gilmore come to mind when looking at South Carolnia recruits that Clemson lost out in state really shows how the balance of power has shifted.

Clemson has everything a college recruit could want but the situation of the ACC. When they look at playing in front of 30,000/40,000 fans about 2-3 times a season while playing in a conference which isn't respected. Then the other school from across state knowing they could stay in state and play every game in front of at least 70k crowds and play against a loaded schedule which NFL scouts look at it's uphill for the Clemson.

Florida State and Miami on the other hand look like they have more of the abillity to keep talent even with the ACC stigma. On a foot note if Oregon in their talent deprived area can stay at the top no reason the elites of the ACC can't.